Chapter 13 4. Take Dingyuan and win the first battle

After Jia Lu Weihao was released, Zhu Yuanzhang's idea of ​​independent sect became stronger and stronger.The discord among several leaders in the city, as well as Guo Tianxu's ostracism and jealousy, made Zhu Yuanzhang understand: In fact, the biggest enemy of the rebel army is not the Yuan army, but the rebel army itself. There is really no room for development in Haozhou City, maybe One day, he will become a wronged ghost in internal strife. On this day, Guo Zixing discussed with everyone how to develop. Zhu Yuanzhang seized this opportunity and tried his best to state the advantages of developing outside the city of Haozhou: "The city has been divided by several marshals, and there are many conflicts among them, so there is very little room for development. Now the Yuan army is large If he is defeated and takes the opportunity to expand his influence outside the city, Marshal Guo won't have to be angry with those short-sighted people in this small town."

Of course Guo Zixing is willing. He saw that Zhu Yuanzhang's ability is getting stronger and stronger, and he knew that staying with him for a long time is not a good thing. Taking this opportunity to send him out to attack the city is a good way. If he loses, he has nothing to lose. . So Guo Zixing said: "Yuanzhang's words are very true, then I will assign you three thousand elite soldiers, and you will lead the troops to attack Dingyuan, how about it?" Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy. Stepping out of Haozhou City was the key to his independence. Now he has three thousand elite soldiers. Although he has never led a soldier, he has no fear in his heart.

Zhu Yuanzhang said firmly: "Thank you Marshal Guo, we will try our best to do this well." Guo Zixing immediately appointed Zhu Yuanzhang as the governor, and ordered him to send troops to Dingyuan in the near future. When Zhu Yuanzhang came out of the Guo Mansion, his face was full of joy, and he wanted to share this excitement with someone.The first person he thought of was naturally his wife.At this time, he especially wanted to vent the happiness in his heart. This was the most comfortable thing since he entered Haozhou City besides marrying a wife.After thinking about it, he stepped into Tanghe's residence with both feet.

I made an appointment with Tang He and Xu Da, and the three of them went to the tavern to drink and congratulate.The banquet was full of praises from Tang He and Xu Da. And Zhu Yuanzhang is not just for congratulations, he also has his own selfishness, he wants to marry his brother and go with him, these are the two people who are the most intimate and able to serve him the most.As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang expressed his thoughts, Tang He and Xu Da immediately expressed their willingness to work for the eldest brother, and brothers should live and die together. When Zhu Yuanzhang was proud, there was a change in Guo Zixing's side.Guo Tianxu tried his best to persuade Guo Zixing to withdraw his military power to Zhu Yuanzhang. He was worried that Zhu Yuanzhang had other plans in mind.Although Guo Zixing hoped that Zhu Yuanzhang would fight for him, he didn't want this son-in-law to be too powerful, but it would be difficult to take back his life.Guo Zixing and his son discussed for a long time, and decided that Zhu Yuanzhang should still fight in Dingyuan, and the soldiers and horses would still be given, but the elite soldiers would be replaced by the oldest, weakest and most ineffective part of the army.

Zhu Yuanzhang knew nothing about this. A few days later, when it was time to set off, Zhu Yuanzhang went to Guo's mansion to accept dispatch. When Zhu Yuanzhang knew the truth, he was very angry, and he realized that it was not Guo Tianxu who played him this time, but their father and son.He knows better that he is just a pawn at the mercy of others, but Zhu Yuanzhang does not want to be a pawn, but the person who holds the chess.Although his heart was already burning with anger, Zhu Yuanzhang suppressed his anger.He took a deep breath and said calmly: "Guo Shuai, these soldiers are all veterans, I'm afraid they won't accept my control, besides, they are probably old and weak, and it is inconvenient for them to travel and fight. Please Guo Shuai think twice."

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang was so calm, Guo Zixing was a little scared. He was facing a young man who had never panicked or feared.Guo Zixing smiled forcefully: "I have more experience in leading troops than you. Although these soldiers are veterans, they are experienced and adaptable. They are all useful people. I can give you more food and supplies, enough for you for the first half of the year. " Zhu Yuanzhang's mind turned faster than Guo Zixing's.In his opinion, it is better not to bring these old and weak soldiers.Not only are they unable to help, but they may also refuse to follow their own orders, and instead make mistakes.Zhu Yuanzhang humbly said to Guo Zixing: "Marshal is very right, but we feel that these veterans may not be willing to obey newcomers. We will attack as far as possible, but we have one request."

Guo Zixing didn't know what Zhu Yuanzhang was planning for a while, so he hurriedly said, "Please tell me!" Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "We don't need Guo Shuai's three thousand soldiers, but we can just need a dozen of them. I wonder if Guo Shuai agrees?" Guo Zixing wanted to laugh a little. He thought he had seen Zhu Yuanzhang's impulsive side, so he hurriedly said, "A dozen people can fight? Tell me..." Zhu Yuanzhang replied calmly: "Thank you, Guo Shuai, these people are just ordinary people, Tang He, Xu Da, Deng Yu, Geng Bingwen, Liu Ziyi, Wang Yuzhi..."

Only then did Guo Zixing understand that these people were either Zhu Yuanzhang's brothers or fellow villagers.But he didn't believe that Zhu Yuanzhang and these few people could take down Dingyuan. And Zhu Yuanzhang had already calculated that when he thought that there were three thousand elite soldiers, he planned to bring these few people with him no matter how many troops he had.He knew that fighting a war depends not only on soldiers, but also on generals, generals who are willing to work hard, and only excellent generals can bring out a strong army.He doesn't need to take over the soldiers from Guo Zixing, but he can recruit soldiers himself.

Zhu Yuanzhang told Tang He and Xu Da of his idea of ​​recruiting troops, and they responded immediately.The soldiers he recruited were naturally stronger than the soldiers Guo Zixing gave him.Besides, now that Guo Zixing's gift has been rejected, everything can only be done by himself. Zhu Yuanzhang made a plan in his mind. This was his first step out of Haozhou City. He had to succeed. He had to recruit soldiers with the most combat effectiveness.These days, the scandals in Haozhou City and the bad influence of various marshals have spread. If you want to recruit troops, you can only stay away from Haozhou City and develop outside.Zhu Yuanzhang felt that going back to his hometown was the most effective way to recruit soldiers. Most of his childhood partners should still be in his hometown. They admired him very much back then.

A few days later, Zhu Yuanzhang bid farewell to Guo Zixing and his reluctant wife. He left Haozhou City with a few people and went straight to his hometown Zhongli. After returning to their hometown, Zhu Yuanzhang and Tang He first went to the village to visit relatives and friends, doing some publicity work.The poor boys of the past are now the governors and bosses, and they can attract people's attention.The propaganda was almost over, Zhu Yuanzhang, Tang He and the others raised the banner of the Red Turban Army's recruitment.The first thing Zhu Yuanzhang found was Zhou Dexing, his childhood playmate, who was good at martial arts and quite prestigious among young and middle-aged people. Zhou Dexing soon brought a group of strong and strong soldiers.At the same time, when Zhu Yuanzhang was young, his friends heard that he was the leader of the Red Turban Army, and they all came to serve him. These people included Wang Zhi, Shao Rong, Tang Shengzong, Wu Liang, Fei Ju, Yu Xin, Chen De and so on.In less than ten days, more than seven hundred people were recruited.

Zhu Yuanzhang led these more than 700 strong men all the way to Dingyuan in the south. The army is stationed not far from Dingyuan.Zhu Yuanzhang sent Xu Da to lead people into Dingyuan County dressed as small traders first to inquire about information.Two days later, Xu Da came back and told Zhu Yuanzhang that Dingyuan was heavily guarded. Although it was Guo Zixing's hometown, the people here did not have goodwill towards the Red Scarf Army. Zhu Yuanzhang shuddered in his heart. It turned out that Guo Zixing sent himself to take Dingyuan to deliberately create a difficult problem for him.Zhu Yuanzhang is by no means a person who is afraid of difficulties. He has experienced too many desperate situations in his past life.For him, this incident made him see through Guo Zixing and his son even more. Zhu Yuanzhang decided to train the newly recruited warriors into elite soldiers with strict discipline and bravery, and then train Tang He, Xu Da, and Zhou Desheng into a group of usable generals.This is Zhu Yuanzhang's initial strength and the foundation of his development. Soon, Zhu Yuanzhang's 700-man team began to attack Dingyuan.Although many people are on the battlefield for the first time, they are well-trained and have high morale.Coupled with the fact that the soldiers knew the terrain of Dingyuan, the facilities in the city, including the customs, Zhu Yuanzhang worked hard for them in the rear.Zhu Yuanzhang found a gap in the Yuan army, attacked on a large scale, and soon conquered Dingyuan.When the Yuan army sent reinforcements, Zhu Yuanzhang led his troops to withdraw suddenly, with few casualties.Then, Zhu Yuanzhang pursued the victory. When the Yuan army encircled Dingyuan, he sent troops to attack Huaiyuan and Anfeng, and captured many strong men in these two places.Before the Yuan soldiers could react, Zhu Yuanzhang led his troops to break out of Huaiyuan and Anfeng, and conquered the nearby Hanshan County, Lingbi County and Hong County. Zhu Yuanzhang was not overwhelmed by the victory in front of him. What he saw was not only the immediate future, but also the longer-term development.He asked any soldiers not to oppress the people, let alone seize property.Zhu Yuanzhang himself did not collect anything, and opened warehouses to release grain in the cities he visited, and returned it to the people.At the same time, detailed statistics have been made on the property and military grass in the city, and they are going to go back and dedicate it to Guo Zixing. Zhu Yuanzhang's move made Tang He and Xu Da very unhappy.Tang He, in particular, was straightforward and yelled: "Brother, why did you dedicate the city we conquered so hard to the one named Guo? Let's see how his father and son usually treat us?" Xu Da was also a little unhappy: "That's right, big brother, the brothers in our hometown follow us, why don't you want to have enough food and receive some money. Why do you give all the supplies and armaments in Dingyuan to the Guo family?" Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "We know that brothers are suffering, but now is not the time to enjoy it. It's too early for us seven hundred people to want to set up another family. Right now, we can't be too arrogant. We must convince Guo Zixing that we have It’s not easy, and now we have to submit to him in name in order to seek long-term development.” Seeing that Xu Da, Tang He and the others were silent, Zhu Yuanzhang said: "This battle is our first step. Next, we must continue to recruit troops. On the surface, relying on Guo Zixing is our barrier. At least the power of Haozhou City will not be against us. , besides, Guo Shuai's reputation is still higher than ours." Zhu Yuanzhang went on to say: "Brothers immediately withdraw our troops and return to Haozhou. I heard that there are thousands of militiamen in Zhangjiabao Lvpai Village, and we have the next goal of withdrawing troops. Don't worry, brothers will wait until the day when we can feel proud." Guo Zixing saw that Zhu Yuanzhang returned victorious, recruited and captured many troops, and handed over all the military supplies he had obtained. Guo Zixing was overjoyed. He secretly thought that this kid did not dare to disobey him, so he relaxed his vigilance towards him, and even felt a little guilty. Taking down Dingyuan was Zhu Yuanzhang's first victory with his own strength, and this time the victory did not lie in taking down Dingyuan, but in recruiting a group of soldiers and generals who belonged to him. They were all Huaixi People, more or less have a relationship with the village or clan, and they work very hard.Since then, these people have become Zhu Yuanzhang's powerful generals, and when Zhu Yuanzhang's military power is strong, these Huaixi people have become the leading generals and the backbone of the army.When Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, these Huaixi veterans and the shogunate became the heroes of the founding of the country.They made great contributions to Zhu Yuanzhang. In the political situation in the early Ming Dynasty, the status of Huaixi people was very prominent and very important.